Postdoctoral Seminar

Wednesday, January 17, 2018 2:00 pm - 2:00 pm EST (GMT -05:00)

Julia Brandes, Department of Pure Mathematics, University of Waterloo

"Diophantine equations and the Hardy-Littlewood circle method"

I will give an easy introduction to the theory of diophantine equations in many variables. After presenting a few heuristic arguments illustrating some of the basic expectations, we will see how Fourier-analytic methods can be applied to count the number of solutions to diophantine equations. Time permitting, we will finish by exhibiting the connection between diophantine equations such as Waring's problem on the one hand and mean value estimates for exponential sums on the other hand.

The talk will be accessible and very expository -- if you know what an integer is you're good to go!

MC 5403